1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card read/write apparatus for cards provided with at least an IC memory region, and more particularly, it relates to improvements in the contact holder in the card read/write apparatus for electrically connecting to the IC memory region of such cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a card read/write apparatus for cards having an optical data storage region and an IC memory region, or cards having a plurality of memory or storage regions such as a magnetic recording region, optical data storage region and IC memory region, there is provided a contact holder equipped with contact pins that get access to and effect electrical connection with the IC memory region of the card for reading information stored in the IC memory region and for writing information into the IC memory region.
Such a conventional contact holder is constituted of a box-type arm which is approximately L-shaped and that rotates about a shaft, as disclosed in Japanese patent laid-open publication numbers 5-67250 or 7-152884.
FIG. 15 is a diagrammatic perspective view showing major parts of a conventional card read/write apparatus equipped with a contact holder as described above.
The card read/write apparatus 1 is constituted of a pair of guide shafts 3 of different length arranged mutually in parallel on a main frame 2, a card carriage 4 that moves back and forth in the X direction along the guide shafts 3, card feed linear motors 5 that drive the card carriage 4 to move back and forth along guide shafts 3, an optical head, not shown, that is arranged above card carriage 4 and that is moved back and forth in the directions (arrow directions Y) perpendicular to the carrying directions of the card carriage 4, and a contact holder 8 that makes direct electrical contact with an IC memory region 6c of a card 6 placed on card carriage 4.
The card 6 as described above includes both an optical data storage region 6b and IC memory region 6c on one side-face 6a constituting its upper surface.
The conventional contact holder 8 described above is constituted of a box-type arm 10 of approximately L-shape, rotatably supported about a shaft 9, and is provided at its tip 10a with a plurality of contact pins (so-called IC contacts) 11 that make electrical contact with the IC memory region 6c. The rear end 10b of the arm 10 is normally biased so as to rotate in clockwise direction about shaft 9 by means of a spring 12, so that arm 10 is normally rotated by a prescribed angle in the clockwise direction by the biasing force of the spring 12 so as to separate IC memory region 6c and contact pins 11, thereby cutting off electrical connection between the IC memory region 6c and contact pins 11.
When, as shown in FIG. 15, card carriage 4 is moved along guide shafts 3 towards contact holder 8, its tip 4a abuts the rear end 10b of arm 10, thereby rotating the arm 10 in the anticlockwise direction about shaft 9 against the biasing force of spring 12, so that IC memory region 6c and contact pins 11 are brought into contact, making an electrical connection. Processing can thereby be performed to read information stored in IC memory region 6c, or to write information into IC memory region 6c.
Optical data storage region 6b is scanned by the optical head, not shown, referred to above, and processing is performed to read the information stored in the optical data storage region 6b or to write information into optical data storage region 6b.
However, with the conventional card read/write apparatus 1 described above, arm 10 of contact holder 8 that approaches and withdraws from IC memory region 6c, as shown in FIG. 15, is of a construction arranged outside the region across which the card carriage 4 runs. With this construction, the total length of the card read/write apparatus 1 is increased and reduction in the size of the card read/write apparatus 1 cannot be achieved.
Furthermore, with the conventional contact holder 8, contact pins 11 were arranged at the tip 10a of arm 10 which was rotatable about shaft 9, and, in order to effect electrical contact between contact pins 11 and IC memory region 6c by rotating the arm 10, all the contact pins 11 and IC memory region 6c had to be made to approach and contact each other while maintaining a mutually parallel state. Consequently, it was difficult to make all the contact pins 11 contact IC memory region 6c with uniform pressure. As a result, the contact pressure between contact pins 11 and IC memory region 6c would at some pins be excessive and at other pins be insufficient, leading to poor contact. Thus, it could become impossible to perform reading of information from IC memory region 6c or writing information into IC memory region 6c.